The Flight of the Sun

Continent in the mist

Breaking and entering, session #27

16

MAY/10

Everybody does it these days

They came in during the afternoon, and pulled a rope trick behind the shelves. It was a bit crowded, but soon the curfew begun, and with it the visitors left. In a couple of hours, the library was deserted by all but a few guards.

Protected by the gnome’s ability to quell any sound they might make, the PCs went for one of the closed doors.

Roland made a quick work of he lock, and they slowly entered a long and narrow stone hallway, quietly closing the door behind them. The masonry was simple and stripped of all decorative details that adorned the rest of the place, with only one door at each end of the hall and, as Darwin noticed, a long line of tiny holes in the stone that stretched across the whole length of the ceiling.

Roland inspected every yard of the place, but saw no traps or alarms of any kind, until they reached the other end.

There, the wizard used the dwarven… rod of metal and mineral detection, and saw there was a sheet of lead at the other side of the door. If there were any magical objects or traps behind the door, they would have been invisible to them.

A tiny voice spoke:

- There is a spell I prepared, of transmutation school, that allows one to dissolve himself into but a thin line of smoke, not losing ability to hear, see or think. The incredible lightness of it is exquisite, it is almost as if… -

- Žbica, –
sighed Wons.
- I hate to interrupt, but can you cut to the point? -

- Oh, yes, the point. In such a gaseous form a person upon which the spell has been cast can move through the tiniest cracks and holes, just like those surrounding the door. -

- Great! Cast it on our locksmith friend here, and we’re done! -

- It’s not that simple, you see, while in a transformed state, one cannot manipulate objects, nor use magic that requires materials, hands, or vocal cords. Once on the other side, Roland would have to make a choice – either to return without doing anything, or stay and risk being captured behind the door if he fails to open them. Since I have the ability to use the spell twice, it would be wiser for me to cast it upon myself, go there, attempt to open the door and then come back here if my attempt should fail. -

- Wait, – said Roland, – I could put Žbica inside the bag of holding, and then, if Darwin could cast the same spell on me, we could… -

- No. –
said Darwin.

- But if we rested, perhaps you could… -

- No. I can cast it. –
said the dwarf, after a small pause.
- But I choose not to. – 11

- Stubborn dwarf. -

Darwin addressed this remark simply by turning his back to Amadeus.

Žbica sighed.

- That’s it, im going in. -

His fingers traced runes in the air. They watched as the gnome dissolved into thin line of smoke he spoke of, and whirled slowly, as if carried by a draft, through tiny cracks. Soon he disappeared, and all they could do was stand in silence and wait.

It took a while before they heard the whispering voice from the other side.

- There is an opening mechanism that seems quite ordinary to me, and I can detect no magic on this side. However, in the holes on the ceiling I saw delicate little vials containing what seemed to be some sort of liquid. What shall I do? Shall I pull the lever? -

- No! -

- Yes! -

Roland and Darwin looked at each other.

- The door may be trapped by some kind of magic he could not detect, –
said Roland.

- That may be, but I bet the vials contain some sort of poison. Perhaps opening the door might trigger an alarm loud enough to break the glass? If so, I can use my wind wall spell to disperse the damn thing! -

- Let’s go for the door, then! – said Žbica.

- No! I’m not sure that would work, – said Roland.

- The gas would have nowhere to go, and the other door is pretty far. No, let’s be a bit more careful about this. Perhaps we should count on our luck only if everything else fails. -

- Agreed, – said Wons.
- Let’s try doing this the traditional way. -

Darwin’s eyes rolled. Wons had such a distrust towards magic… perhaps that’s what happens when one hangs around with the likes of that sword.

In the end Žbica came back, and they agreed to spend the night in the library. They could wake up early enough for the wizard and the cleric to prepare spells, get into the vault and get out in time the library opened.

They did so. Žbica and Darwin got into the bag of holding, casting a spell on Roland and Wons. They got to the other side and pulled the dwarf and the gnome out. As Roland soon discovered there was a trap on the lever. Should someone try to pull it and open the door without saying the password, the spell would make noise loud enough to deafen, and even harm everyone near. Those vials in the ceiling certainly would have cracked, just as Darwin had predicted.